


Merry Christmas, Carmen

by DrCosimaCormier



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019), Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? (Cartoon 1994)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrCosimaCormier/pseuds/DrCosimaCormier
Summary: Set after Just Like Old Times. Carmen thinks back to last chess game with the Chief and her last case for ACME before she left the agency.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Merry Christmas, Carmen

**Author's Note:**

> This whole idea had me all sad when I was thinking about it and I'll explain more in the end notes! I do apologise for any grammatical errors such as typos or missed words, but other than that, I hope y'all enjoy this fic and leave kudos and a comment if you do, thank you!

Despite not getting to play chess with the Chief, Carmen had a fun time answering Zack and Ivy’s clues; however, she did not like that it was all just a ploy to capture her. She’d expected to have some time off from evading capture by her worthy adversaries, but it seemed like “kidnapping” the Chief for the day had given the detectives another cause for wanting to arrest her.

Carmen sighed as she stared at the screen of her computer and played an online chess game. Of course, the computer programmed opponent didn’t give her much of a challenge and she played her last move allowing her to checkmate her opponent and win the game. It wasn’t the same as playing with the Chief, he always challenged Carmen with his unpredictable moves even if she did manage to beat him every year except that last one. The thought made Carmen think back to that last game before she left ACME and became a thief which was, coincidently, played after her last case at ACME.

**Christmas Eve – December 24, 1985 (San Francisco)**

“Carmen?” The Chief called out as she walked through the agency doors.

Carmen smiled at him. “Happy Christmas Eve, Chief! You up for our annual game of chess?” Carmen asked as she sat in front of the computer screen.

ACME had just updated a bit of their technology and had computerised the Chief into the system, putting his robot body into storage.

“You know, if you want me to, I could go get that robot body of yours so I don’t have to move the pieces for you.” Carmen suggested.

“You’d do that for me?” The Chief asked. Carmen nodded her head. “I mean, if it’s not too much trouble for you, Carmen.” The Chief said.

Carmen waved him off. “Just give me about an hour and we will be all set, Chief.” Carmen said before she left for the storage room.

An hour passed by and Carmen had done exactly what she set out to do.

“How do you feel, Chief?” Carmen asked as she sat down across from him.

“I feel great! I feel fantastic! Thank you, Carmen!” The Chief exclaimed. “But this just in from CrimeNet that you’re needed in Stockholm, Sweden, pronto, gumshoe.” The Chief said.

Carmen let out a small sigh. “Guess our chess game is going to have to wait.” Carmen said. “You know, you should come along, Chief. We’ll go sightseeing after we catch the bad guys before we head home.” Carmen suggested.

“Oh? Are you sure? I mean, after what happened with Maelstrom?” The Chief asked.

Carmen nodded her head. “Of course, Chief! You helped me catch Maelstrom, remember?” Carmen asked. _Besides, who better to solve my last case with?_ Carmen asked herself. “I’ll pick up Suhara and then head back to my apartment to get you something to wear for the trip, okay?” Carmen offered, leaving before the chief could reply.

**Christmas – December 25, 1985 (Sweden)**

“I appreciate you letting me tag along with you on this case, Carmen. Although, Suhara wasn’t quite pleased to see me when I got into the car.” The Chief said as they walked down a sidewalk in Sweden.

“Suhara was just surprised to see you, that’s all. Plus, I wanted to take in the sights with you, Chief.” Carmen said with a smile, it wasn’t a particularly happy one, but the Chief didn’t seem to take notice. “And you know more than I do about Sweden and the Christmas type things to do around here.” Carmen added.

“Well, we missed the St. Lucia’s Day celebration and we don’t have anywhere to have dinner at, Carmen.” The Chief replied. “But we could always go skiing, I think.”

“Maybe this wasn’t a well thought out plan on my part. Besides, it’s not like you can eat real food with me.” Carmen said with a sigh. She couldn’t believe the first part of her last day with the Chief was going to be a bust all because she didn’t plan it out well. “I don’t think we should go skiing, Chief, don’t know what might happen. I’m sorry this isn’t going well.” Carmen apologised

“No worries, Carmen. I’m enjoying spending my time with you.” The Chief said, reassuringly.

Carmen shook her head. “No, Chief, we should head to the airport. Besides, our flight should have us back home before Christmas hits in our time zone and we can play our annual game of chess. I’m sure Suhara is wondering where we are anyway.” Carmen replied.

“If that’s what you want to do, Carmen.” The Chief said.

Carmen nodded her head and the two headed to the airport in silence to wait for their flight.

**Christmas Eve - December 24, 1985 (San Francisco)**

Carmen smiled as she walked arm in arm with the Chief into the agency. “You ready for our annual game of chess now, Chief?” Carmen asked.

“I am. I feel like I’m finally going to win a game of chess against you!” The Chief exclaimed as Carmen set up the board.

Carmen smirked. “Well, you sure do sound confident, Chief. I wouldn’t be surprised if you did beat me this time.” Carmen replied.

“Now, Carmen, when you lose, you can use my shoulder to cry on, but not too much.” The Chief said.

Carmen raised her eyebrow. “Ouch, Chief, who taught you how to talk like that?” Carmen asked.

“Well, I don’t know, it just seemed like the right thing to say so I did. Was I wrong to assume that?” The Chief asked.

Carmen shook her head. “No, Chief, you were right. I was just surprised, that’s all.” Carmen responded. “Let’s play.” Carmen said as she finished setting up the board.

“Carmen?” The Chief asked.

“Yes?” Carmen replied.

“I think the board is turned around the wrong way. You’re always black and I’m always white.” The Chief pointed out.

Carmen laughed softly. “Don’t worry about it, Chief. Thought I’d change things up a bit.” Carmen said before moving her first piece.

They sat in silence for almost the entire duration of the game as chess pieces left the board and calculated moves were made. It was silent until one of them spoke the one word that signalled the end of the game.

“Checkmate!” The Chief exclaimed.

Carmen grinned and clapped her hands. “Good job, Chief. I think this was our best game yet.” Carmen said.

“I can’t believe I won. I finally beat the great Carmen Sandiego at chess.” The Chief said.

Carmen nodded her head before looking at her watch, it was almost 1 in the morning and she let out a small yawn. “I should get going, Chief, it’s pretty late.” Carmen said. “Blast! I still have to reprogram you back into the system before I leave.”

The Chief nodded his head. “Right, you do have to do.” The Chief said in a slightly sad tone. “Hey, Carmen?” The Chief said as Carmen put the game away.

“Yes?” Carmen replied.

The Chief did his best to smile at Carmen. “Thank you and Merry Christmas, Carmen.” The Chief said.

Carmen smiled back at him. “You’re welcome, Chief, and Merry Christmas to you, too.” Carmen responded before powering him down and reprogramming him into the system.

About an hour and a half later, Carmen found herself back in her apartment a few blocks from ACME and plopped down into her bed. It was a little hard for Carmen to believe that after Christmas was over that she would never step foot in ACME again as a detective. The thought stayed with Carmen for a while until she dozed off.

**Present Day – December 26, 1996**

A part of Carmen regretted never telling the Chief goodbye one last time after her last case in Sweden. She didn’t want to see the Chief resemble some form of sadness towards her which is why she never told him goodbye, but it also made Carmen feel bad for leaving the Chief with no warning or an explanation of some kind.

 _Maybe one day I’ll be able to explain what was going through my head at 17 and give the Chief some kind of closure, but, then again, maybe some things weren’t meant to be understood especially the mind of 17 year old Carmen Sandiego._ Carmen thought to herself.

Carmen sighed and ran her fingers through her hair and was about to shut down her computer when an email popped up.

“Who would be emailing me this late at night?” Carmen asked herself out loud. She noted that it was well past midnight and grimaced as she realised that the time also indicated that it’d been 11 years since she left ACME for her new style of life. Carmen unenthusiastically clicked on the email and, despite the realisation that had dawned on her just seconds ago, smiled to herself. It was an email from Zack and it came at just the right time if you’d asked her.

_Hey, Carmen. The Chief was telling us about what happened or well, he described it as a weird dream, but I realised that he was just retelling what happened tonight. He mentioned something about a chess game and I figured that you never got to it just like when you stole all of those statues and turrets to make the world’s largest chess game and we only got to do a few moves before Ivy interrupted the game. I was, honestly, looking forward to it, Carmen. Anyway, thought you might like this so this software allows you to play chess with the Chief (or me, if you’re up for it) whenever you want to without stealing the Chief right from up under our noses during the holidays. It might still have a few bugs, but I’ll continue working on it to fix them. Ivy’s yelling at me now cause she’s irritated that I had her pause The Nightmare Before Christmas so I’ve got to go. I hope you like this present and thanks for the Carmen doll. Merry Christmas, Carmen._

The thief was surprised that Zack had thought of doing this for her. She checked over the software multiple times just to make sure it was a trick before she downloaded it. Carmen mulled over the idea of playing a game of chess with the Chief right now but shook the idea out of her head as she remembered that the Chief wasn’t feeling well and that it would be best to wait.

Carmen shut off her computer before retreating to her living room. After leaving the VILE hideout that the ACME detectives had infiltrated, she’d gone back to her home in New York. Only a few of the people at VILE knew about the place, but they’d never dare to bother her there, so it was kind of like her sanctuary.

Carmen ran her fingers through her hair as she picked out a movie to watch. The last part of Zack’s email had inspired Carmen what she was going to watch so _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ was the movie that Carmen put on.

 _I’m missing something._ Carmen thought to herself and a lightbulb went off. Carmen quickly made her way to her closet and changed into some Christmas themed pyjamas, slightly different from her usual red pyjamas that she always wore to bed. After that, she made her way to the kitchen to make herself a nice hot cup of hot chocolate, a delicacy that Carmen rarely let herself divulge in unless it was during the holidays.

After sitting down on her couch, she pulled a blanket over herself before taking a bite of her gingerbread cookies and a sip of her hot chocolate. “This is much better.” Carmen said to herself before sighing contently and pressed play on her movie.

**Author's Note:**

> So my brain doesn't know how to note think about something until I'm satisfied, for the time being, with what I've come up with. This is just a theory or whatever, but I believe Carmen defected from ACME between November 24 - December 31 of 1985 and that's about as far as I can narrow down the timeline based on the Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego episodes and just obsessing over figuring out a decent timeline to figure out when Carmen left. So my brain was like what if Carmen mentioned that case in Sweden that she did on Christmas because that was her last case at ACME and she wanted to see if the Chief remembered it despite what was going with him and then the whole chess thing where they played every Christmas Eve; however, a part of me just couldn't grasp the concept that Carmen would leave before Christmas Eve/Christmas because of how deep her bond with the Chief is so yeah, that's my reasoning for this fic. I hope all of this made sense. And like I said before, if you enjoyed the fic leave kudos and a comment, I really love hearing what people have to say in regards to my writing!
> 
> Follow me on twitter if you want to, user: drcosimacormier


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